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Komotauer market place with Ignatius- Church

Komotau

(Czech Chomutov)

from the Archive Komotau

In the Background: The 92nd March (Komotauer Marsch)
Komotau was first mentioned in 1252. Friedrich of Chomutov(u) offered the oppidum and some villages to the Order of the German Knights in a document . In 1281 the Order`s Katharinen Church was consecrated.
The citizens of the town and the Order built a defense wall between 1376 and 1382. Komotau was surrounded by a double trench and double walls. Four major gates led into the town: The Weintor from the north, the Pragertor from the east, the "Brotbänke" from south-west and the Kaadner Tor from the west. This part of the wall can still be seen.

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The foundation document of Komotau

  
The wealth of the German Order reached its peak in the following centuries. Later,however, the Order went bankrupt. The formerly strict rules were forgotten and the knights lived in luxury. The Komtur had to leave and his successors were not very successful either. The Order lost its possessions and its power.
In 1421 Komotau suffered a terrible fate. Jan Ziska and his Husite soldiers conquered, devastated and plundered it. All male persons were killed. 30 survivors had to bury the dead bodies. Komotau stayed occupied until it had to surrender to Meißen. 1488 meant the end of the Order of the German Knights.
Afterwards the city fell into the hands of noble landowners: Benesch of Weitmühl, 1529 Sebastian of Weitmühl and his Son Johann. 1560 Erzherzog Ferdinand, 1571 Bohuslaw Felix of Lobkowitz and Hassenstein.
In 1588 Georg Popel of Lobkowitz came into the possession of Komotau. He established the Jesuit College, which existed until 1932, when the Goethe Gymnasium was built on the Weinberg.Georg Popel lost the Emperor`s favour and ended in prison at the Castle of Ellbogen. At that time Komotau was set on fire and burnt down.
Komotau bought its freedom in 1605 and became a free royal town.
The religious buildings reach old age. The Dekanalkirche Assumption completed at the marketplace Görg Schreml in 1539, the St. Barbara church in the district Oberndorf Georg Popel of Lobkowicz, built in 1593. Then the Holy Spirit Church followed in 1598. Finally in 1668 by Ignatius Church, the Italian Carlo Lurago for the Jesuits built. This church reaches the size of a medium dome. Finally, inaugurated the Gustav Adolf-Verein in 1899, his evangelical church in the city park. It was blown up in 1973 by the Czech blown up.
One of the most famous people of Komotau was Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner.
At the turning from the 19th to the 20th century the theatre Parksäle were built and the flower clock in the park was created.
Famous for Komotau is the Alaunsee, the Mannesmann Company, the bell-producing firm Herold, the clock factory Kienzle and a company manufacturing a coffee substitute. On the whole there were 52 major firms there.


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Hussiten attack of Komotau

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Maria Himmelfahrt Church with the Dreifaltigkeits- Statue in front
One of the most beautiful natural sights is the Grundtal with the Assigbach. Its brown water comes from the swampy area of the Erzgebirge. The Erzgebirgsverein made this valley accessible for tourists at the end of the 19th century.
A special gift of nature is Lake Alaun, a former alaun mine from the Middle Ages filled with fresh water . The lake is 16 ha large and up to 4 metres deep. Its usually used for bathing.
The industrialisation left its traces in Komotau, too. As there was a lot of iron ore and coal, the Mannesmann Brothers founded a company for seamless pipes. Quality tools, like files and wires were produced in Poldihütte. Den Rest habe ich schon geschrieben.
In 1932 the Goethegymnasium was built and 2 years later a gmn, called after the "Father of Sports" Jahn.
In 1913 the Deutschböhmische Landesschau took place. A stone knight of the German Order - 11 metres high - stood at the Jahnspielplatz. Czechs damaged it shortly before the expulsion of the Germans.

 

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Mannesmann factory

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Lake Alaun

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The slaughter at Jahnplaz

 

  

 

The expulsion of the Germans was especially cruel in Komotau. A lot of man and women were killed at "Glashütte". 1n 1945 8000 men had to watch the murder of their fellow countrymen at the Jahnspielplatz. The rest was driven ut the Ore Mountains to be handed over to the Sovjets at the Saxon border. As they were rejected by the Russians, they were forced to march to Maltheuern, a labour camp near Brüx and stayed there to sometimes up to 2 years.
The expulsion transports were organised in special camps, usually schools. Before the expulsion the luggage was checked and partly confiscated. The transports started at the station of Poldihütte. Up to 6o people were crammed into cattle waggons. The trains went west to Eger and from there either to Bavaria or the Sovjet zone. Behind the border the white band with a N were thrown out of the train windows.

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Memorial "9 th June 1945"

in Deutschneudorf (Saxonia)
The expellees from Komotau founded the Heimatkreis Kommotau within the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft. Patron is the city of Erlangen in Franconia. There are meetings every second year.
In memory of the death march to Maltheuern,a group of participants erected a memorial: "9th June, 1945." It is located on historical ground, the place where the Czechs negotiated with the Russians. Every year in June people of Komotau meet there to memorize the victims of this death march.
In 1930    28559 of the 33000 residents of Komotau were German.